McDEVITT, Justice.
This case arises out of the Snake River Basin Adjudication. The United States filed a Petition for a Writ of Mandamus, requesting the district court to issue an order requiring the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources (the agency in charge of receiving notice of claims to water rights in the adjudication) to accept the filing of the United States’ Notices of Claims to a Water Right without payment of the required filing fees. The district court denied the petition. We affirm.
The Snake River Basin Adjudication (“SRBA”) is being conducted pursuant to I.C. § 42-1406A. On June 30, 1989, the United States of America filed a petition for a Writ of Mandamus, or alternatively, declaratory or injunctive relief. The United States sought an order from the district court requiring the director of the Idaho Department of Water Resources (“the director”) to accept the filing of its claims without payment of the filing fees as required by I.C. § 42-1414. The United States contends that the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. § 666, does not waive sovereign immunity from the payment of filing fees.
Subsequent to the filing of the petition, on July 6, 1989, the United States submitted its Notices of Claim to a Water Right on behalf of the Bureau of Reclamation and the Department of the Interior without payment of the filing fees to the director. The director refused to file the notices of claims. On July 10, 1989, the district court entered an order requiring the director to accept the notices for lodging, but not for filing.
The district court required the United States to submit a list of issues to be litigated concerning the issue of filing fees. Several motions for summary judgment were filed by the parties. The trial court issued two separate memorandum opinions. The first was filed December 27, 1990. The district court also granted the State’s Motion for Summary Judgment as to several issues and then limited the issues to be considered at trial. The remaining issues were tried to the district court without a jury, after which, the district court denied the United States’ petition for a Writ of Mandamus. From this denial the United States appeals.
ISSUE ON APPEAL
DOES THE McCARRAN AMENDMENT, 43 U.S.C. § 666, ALLOW THE STATE OF IDAHO TO COLLECT FILING FEES FROM THE UNITED STATES FOR CLAIMS FILED IN THE SNAKE RIVER BASIN ADJUDICATION?
A little background on the SRBA and on general water adjudications in the State of Idaho is helpful in understanding the dispute between the parties. In 1985, the Idaho Legislature passed I.C. § 42-1406A.1 This statute required the director [118]*118to file a petition in district court to commence an adjudication of the water of the Snake River Basin. The director filed a petition seeking a court order commencing the adjudication in the district court on June 17,1987. In this petition, the director named the United States and all other water users as defendants. The district court entered an order on October 14, 1987, commencing the Snake River Basin Adjudication. This Court then affirmed the district court’s order commencing the adjudication. In re Snake River Basin Water Sys., 115 Idaho 1, 764 P.2d 78 (1988), cert. denied, Boise-Kuna Irri. Dist. v. United States, 490 U.S. 1005, 109 S.Ct. 1639, 104 L.Ed.2d 155 (1989).
Once the district court entered the order commencing the adjudication, Idaho statutes provide the procedure to be followed in the adjudication. Idaho Code § 42-1406A(2) required the director to perform an investigation to determine the various water rights among the water users of the Snake River Basin. Idaho Code §§ 42-1408 and 42-1408A instruct the director to prepare a notice and to serve notice upon all claimants. Claimants are then required by I.C. § 42-1409 to file Notices of Claim to a Water Right with the director. Idaho Code § 42-1414 sets the filing fees to be paid at the time of filing the Notice of Claim to a Water Right. The director then must investigate each separate claim. After investigating all claims, I.C. § 42-1411 requires the director to prepare a report determining what rights have been acquired under state law and then to file this report with the district court. Idaho Code § 42-1412 allows any claimant to object to any portion of the director’s report. The district court then proceeds to trial on any contested matters. Id. Those portions of the director’s report that receive no objection are admitted as true. I.C. § 42-1412(9). The district court then enters the final decree determining the water rights of each claimant. I.C. § 42-1413.
The United States contends that the McCarran Amendment, 43 U.S.C. § 666, which waives the United States’ immunity from suit in water adjudications, does not waive immunity from filing fees. On the other hand, the State of Idaho asserts that the plain language of the McCarran Amendment waives any obstruction to the payment of filing fees. The State of Idaho asserts that the issue of whether the McCarran Amendment waives immunity to filing fees has been previously adjudicated in United States v. Oregon Water Resources Dep’t, 774 F.Supp. 1568 (D.Or.1991); In re the General Adjudication of all Rights to Use Water on the Big Horn River Sys., 753 P.2d 76 (Wyo.1988), affirmed by an equally divided court, 492 U.S. 406, 109 S.Ct. 2994, 106 L.Ed.2d 342 (1989); and, United States v. City & County of Denver, 656 P.2d 1 (Colo.1983). [119]*119These cases fail to fully address the contentions of the United States, therefore, we deem it necessary to discuss at some length the issue on appeal.
Both the United States and the State of Idaho urge that this is a “simple” case of statutory construction.
It is a fundamental principle of jurisprudence that the United States is immune from suit unless it consents to be sued. Keifer & Keifer v. Reconstruction Fin. Corp., 306 U.S. 381, 59 S.Ct. 516, 83 L.Ed. 784 (1939). This immunity extends to barring an individual state from suing the United States unless the federal government consents to such suit. Minnesota v. United States, 305 U.S. 382, 59 S.Ct. 292, 83 L.Ed. 235 (1939). Only the United States Congress can grant such consent to be sued. United States v. Sherwood, 312 U.S. 584, 61 S.Ct. 767, 85 L.Ed. 1058 (1941); Morrison v. Work, 266 U.S. 481, 45 S.Ct. 149, 69 L.Ed. 394 (1925). Absent a waiver of sovereign immunity by Congress, the United States cannot be sued. Loeffler v. Frank, 486 U.S. 549, 108 S.Ct. 1965, 100 L.Ed.2d 549 (1988).2 The waiver of immunity must be expressed in the statutory text in question and not from extraneous sources. United States v. Nordic Village, Inc., — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1011, 117 L.Ed.2d 181 (1992); Dellmuth v. Muth, 491 U.S. 223, 228-29, 109 S.Ct. 2397, 2400, 105 L.Ed.2d 181 (1989); Atascadero State Hospital v. Scanlon, 473 U.S. 234, 105 S.Ct. 3142, 87 L.Ed.2d 171 (1985).
Once a waiver of sovereign immunity is found to exist, “those conditions must be strictly observed, and exceptions are not to be lightly implied.” Block v. North Dakota, 461 U.S. 273, 287, 103 S.Ct. 1811, 1820, 75 L.Ed.2d 840 (1983). The extent of the waiver is not to be extended beyond the “clear and unambiguous” language of the statute. Hancock v. Train, 426 U.S. 167, 179, 96 S.Ct. 2006, 2013, 48 L.Ed.2d 555 (1976). While being careful not to enlarge a waiver of sovereign immunity beyond that which is expressed in the language that Congress used in the statute, a court should remember the “broad and just purpose which the statute was designed to effect” to help in determining the extent of the waiver. Indian Towing v. United States, 350 U.S. 61, 68, 76 S.Ct. 122, 126, 100 L.Ed. 48 (1955).
Library of Congress v. Shaw, 478 U.S. 310, 106 S.Ct. 2957, 92 L.Ed.2d 250 (1986), involved a lawsuit involving Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964. The act authorized an award of back pay and reasonable attorney fees. The act also contained the language that “the United States shall be liable for costs the same as a private person.” 42 U.S.C. § 2000e-5(k). The plaintiff, Shaw, prevailed in the action and was awarded attorney fees. The trial judge increased the award by 30% to compensate the attorney for the delay in receiving payment for the services rendered. The Library of Congress appealed, alleging that the increase in compensation was disguised interest and was therefore, improperly awarded. The United States Supreme Court recognized the long-standing rule that the United States was immune from an interest award. In determining whether Congress had waived immunity from interest, the Court turned to two different phrases in the statute.
First, the Court looked at the phrase, “the same as a private person.” The Court determined that this phrase had to be construed with the long-standing prohibition against an interest award. The Court determined that this was not an express waiver of immunity.
The Court also declined to find a waiver of immunity in the statutory requisite of awarding “reasonable” attorney fees. The Court held that an award of interest could not be read into the term “reasonable.” Without the express use of language indicating a waiver of immunity from paying interest, there could be no interest award.
I.
Because of a need to adjudicate all rights to the use of a water system, it has [120]*120been held that the McCarran Amendment authorizes the adjudication of the United States’ water rights, including “appropriate rights, riparian rights, and reserved rights.”3 United States v. District Ct., County of Eagle, Colo., 401 U.S. 520, 524, 91 S.Ct. 998, 1002, 28 L.Ed.2d 278 (1971). An adjudication contemplates more than just determining those rights acquired by appropriation, but all rights, however acquired or reserved, to use water from a water system.
Being cognizant of these well-established principles, we turn to the act of Congress involved in this case. The pertinent statute is 43 U.S.C. § 666(a), which states:
Consent is hereby given to join the United States as a defendant in any suit (1) for the adjudication of rights to the use of water of a river system or other source, or (2) for the administration of such rights, where it appears that the United States is the owner of or is in the process of acquiring water rights by appropriation under State law, by purchase, by exchange, or otherwise, and the United States is a necessary party to such suit. The United States, when a party to any such suit, shall (1) be deemed to have waived any right to plead that the State laws are inapplicable or that the United States is not amenable thereto by reason of its sovereignty, and (2) shall be subject to the judgments, orders, and decrees of the court having jurisdiction, and may obtain review thereof, in the same manner and to the same extent as a private individual under like circumstances. Provided, That no judgment for costs shall be entered against the United States in any such suit.
The United States correctly asserts that the first sentence of the McCarran Amendment waives any objection by the United States that it is immune from joinder in water adjudications. The United States asserts that the language of the first sentence:
where it appears that the United States is the owner of or is in the process of acquiring water rights by appropriation under State law, by purchase, by exchange, or otherwise, and the United States is a necessary party to such suit.
43 U.S.C. § 666(a) (emphasis added), must be read in conjunction with the second sentence. The second sentence reads in part:
The United States, when a party to any such suit, shall (1) be deemed to have waived any right to plead that the State laws are inapplicable or that the United States is not amenable thereto by reason of its sovereignty, ...
43 U.S.C. § 666(a) (emphasis added). The United States argues that the use of the term “plead” indicates that the provision applies to legal defenses and that “the State laws” of the second sentence refers back to the phrase “appropriation under State law” contained in the first sentence. Reading these two phrases together, the United States maintains that the provision simply bars the United States from claiming that the laws pertaining to appropriation under state law are inapplicable, and that this language does not waive immunity from paying filing fees. The United States asserts that if Congress had intended to waive immunity to filing fees, it would be necessary for Congress to use the term “all” instead of the term “the.”
This argument fails for several reasons. First, the term “any such suit” contained in the second sentence has to refer to the “defendant in any suit” language of the first sentence. The McCarran Amendment [121]*121defines any suit as a “suit (1) for the adjudication of rights to the use water of a river system or other source, or (2) for the administration of such rights.” Subjecting the United States to these types of suits would necessarily subject the United States to those state laws necessary to carry out these types of suits, as they entail more than just mere appropriation. Congress recognized a need to allow the States to control the adjudication. To hold otherwise would allow the United States to plead immunity from those procedural rules contained in the statute and any other rule or statute pertaining to a water adjudication or administration suit, but not directly pertaining to the appropriation of water, that the United States found inconvenient or objectionable. This would then allow the federal government to control the process of adjudication and not the individual states, which is contrary to the clear language of 43 U.S.C. § 666(a).
Second, the suggestion that Congress needed to use the word “all” to indicate a waiver of immunity from filing fees leads to an absurd result. The use of the term “all State laws” would subject the federal government to all state laws, not just those laws necessary for the adjudication or administration of water use. This would be a much broader waiver than necessary or contemplated by the statute, and would also subject the United States to determination of issues other than water rights and runs afoul of the recent holding of the United States Supreme Court in United States v. Nordic Village, Inc., — U.S. -, 112 S.Ct. 1011, 117 L.Ed.2d 181 (1992).
Congress, in 43 U.S.C. § 666(a), when referring to “appropriation under state law, by purchase, by exchange, or otherwise,” uses the word “law” in its singular form, but when referring to the “United States as a party to such suit” (an adjudication) uses the plural word “laws.” This language selection clearly subjects the United States to all laws concerning an “adjudication,” not just the law of appropriation. As previously stated, if the United States were only subject to the law of appropriation, and not the laws concerning a suit for adjudication or administration, the federal government would then be able to plead immunity and effectively control the adjudication. This is contrary to the clear language of the statute.
The United States Supreme Court in Nordic Village, found sections 106(a) and (b) of the Bankruptcy Code to clearly express a waiver of immunity by the United States as to “monetary liability.” The language of 43 U.S.C. § 666(a), just as plainly as the Bankruptcy Code did in 106(a) and (b), express a “clear intent” of congress to subject the United States to all of the state court processes of an “adjudication” of its water rights with the sole exception of costs.
The employment of alternative statutory construction techniques is not required in analyzing 43 U.S.C. § 666(a) unless it is for the purpose of attempting to strain the plain statutory language to reach some preordained result.
No hypothetical, no alternate construction technique, can limit or alter the clear waiver of immunity of 43 U.S.C. § 666(a), nor cause “costs” to mean “filing fees.”
II.
As another basis to support immunity from filing fees, the United States asserts that at the time the McCarran Amendment was passed, the western states allowed a judgment for costs at the end of litigation, but did not impose a filing fee. While it is true that each of the fourteen western states had some provision for shifting costs at the end of litigation, at least six did charge a fee for filing a notice of claim.4 It is interesting to note the filing fee schedule of the state of Nevada, Senator McCarran’s home state. Nevada had a variable filing fee schedule very similar to I.C. § 42-1414. Therefore, Congress could not have contemplated that no filing fees were being charged. Additionally, Nordic Village instructs us not to look to extraneous matters to find a clear waiver. To follow [122]*122this path urged by the United States in this case would be error.
III.
Next, the United States argues that the filing fee imposed by the state is a disguised judgment for costs. There is a tendency to confuse the terms fees and costs; and although often used indiscriminately, the two terms are distinguishable. Galpin v. City of Chicago, 159 Ill.App. 135 (1910), aff'd, 249 Ill. 554, 94 N.E. 961 (1911). Each term has a peculiar and separate meaning in the law. Parks v. Sutton, 60 Utah 356, 208 P. 511 (1922). It has long been recognized that “costs” is a term of known legal significance and differs from “fees.” Alexander v. Harrison, 2 Ind. App. 47, 28 N.E. 119 (1891). “Costs” are a pecuniary allowance or a reimbursement made to the prevailing party in a lawsuit and are recoverable from the losing party. Weiner v. Swales, 217 Md. 123, 141 A.2d 749 (1958). Costs are sometimes referred to as incidental damages and are awarded to indemnify or reimburse a party for expenses incurred. Hayman v. Morris, 37 N.Y.S.2d 884 (1942); People v. Goulding, 275 Mich. 353, 266 N.W. 378 (1936). Costs are usually awarded upon a final determination of the litigation. Foley v. Carter, 214 A.D. 292, 212 N.Y.S. 381 (1925).
“Fees” on the other hand, are distinguishable from costs. Clay v. Overseas Carriers Corp. 61 F.R.D. 325 (D.Penn.1973). In its usual and ordinary context, a fee is a charge for a privilege or a service under the control of the government, City of Kettering v. Berger, 4 Ohio App.3d 254, 448 N.E.2d 458 (1982), such as a filing fee. People v. Goulding, 275 Mich. 353, 266 N.W. 378 (1936). Fees do not come within the term costs. In re Terry, 67 Misc. 514, 123 N.Y.S. 258 (1911). While costs are the charges that a party may recover from the opponent, fees are those amounts paid to the court. Copper Liquor v. Adolph Coors Co., 684 F.2d 1087 (5th Cir.1982). Stated simply, fees are compensation paid to an officer, such as the court, for services rendered to individuals in the course of litigation. Bradley v. State, 69 Ala. 318 (1881); Tillman v. Wood, 58 Ala. 578 (1877).
An interesting case that illustrates the difference between a fee and costs is Bohart v. Anderson, 24 Okla. 82, 103 P. 742 (1909). In Bohart, counsel for plaintiff wished to file a petition without paying the required filing fee. Instead, plaintiff’s counsel wished to post a bond for costs in case his petition was unsuccessful. In denying counsel’s request, the Oklahoma Supreme Court stated that there is a well recognized difference between costs and fees. While costs are an allowance to the prevailing party, fees are an expense payable to the court in advance. The court held that without payment of the filing fees, the clerk of the court could lawfully withhold his or her services until the fee was paid.
We decline to read the term judgment for costs as including the term filing fees. Each term has a plain and ordinary meaning in the law, and each term had been in use in and applied in its plain meaning in the western states when Congress passed the McCarran Amendment.
The United States places emphasis on the fact that the Department of Water Resources is the party initiating the instant suit and the United States is a defendant. Thus, the United States asserts that the expenses incurred by the Department of Water Resources in performing the adjudication are actually “costs” incurred by a party litigant. This argument misses the mark. A general water adjudication brought by the state is analogous to an interpleader action. United States v. Bluewater-Toltec Irri. Dist., 580 F.Supp. 1434 (D.N.M.1984) aff'd sub nom., United States on behalf of Acoma & Laguna Indian Pueblos v. Bluewater-Toltec Irri. Dist., 806 F.2d 986 (10th Cir.1986). The position of the director of the Department of Water Resources is analogous to the “stakeholder” in an interpleader action. The director is really a disinterested party. The only interest the director has is to see that all rights are accurately adjudicated. The director does not oppose a claim, trying to subvert a valid claim. Nor does the [123]*123director stand to gain if a claim is invalidated. “The United States has entered the suit asking that its rights be determined.” New Mexico v. Molybdenum Corp. of Am., 570 F.2d 1364, 1366 (10th Cir.1978). Thus, the United States is “a water applicant” or claimant seeking affirmative relief from the state and not a “defendant.” United States v. Bell, 724 P.2d 631, 647 (Colo.1986) (Erickson, J., specially concurring). We determine this argument to be without merit.
IV.
The final argument that the United States makes concerns an asserted conflict within the Idaho Code. The United States asserts that I.C. § 42-1408A(l)(j), which deals with the contents of the notice of order commencing the general adjudication, exempts the federal government from paying filing fees. Idaho Code § 42-1408A(l)(j) states:
[Sjection 42-1414, Idaho Code, requires each claimant, other than those exempted by federal law, to pay a variable fee with a notice of claim; failure to pay the fee will result in rejection of the notice of claim; failure to file a timely notice of claim will result in the assessment of a late fee in the amount of fifty dollars ($50.00) or fifteen per cent (15%) of the original filing fee, whichever is greater.
It is asserted that this language conflicts with I.C. § 42-1414 which states:
[T]he department of water resources shall accept no notice of claim required under the provisions of section 42-1409, Idaho Code, unless such notice of claim is submitted with a filing fee based upon the fee schedule set forth below. Failure to pay the variable water use fee in accordance with the timetable provided shall be cause for the department to reject and return the notice of claim to the claimant.
The United States urges that § 42-1408 recognizes that the federal government is exempt from filing fees. In support of this argument, the United States points to portions of the Idaho State Legislative Advisory Committee report regarding the filing fees. In the committee report, an economist commented that the federal government could be exempt from paying filing fees. We find no merit in the federal government’s contention. The plain language of I.C. § 42-1414 imposes a filing fee upon all claimants, there is no exception for the United States to be exempted from its provisions. Idaho Code § 42-1408A(l)(j) does not affect the obligation imposed by I.C. § 42-1414 of paying filing fees upon the filing of a “Notice of Claim to a Water Right.”
V.
For historical purposes only and not as a basis for construing 43 U.S.C. 666(a), we note the following. Congress, in passing 43 U.S.C. 666(a), recognized that:
In the arid Western States, for more than 80 years, the law has been that the water above and beneath the surface of the ground belongs to the public, and the right to use thereof is to be acquired from the State in which it is found, which State is vested with the primary control thereof.
In 1877 the Congress, in the Desert Land Act of 1877 (19 Stat.L. 377, Ch. 107), severed the water from the land, and the effect of such statute was thereafter that the land should be patented by the United States separate and apart from the water and that all the nonnavigable water should be reserved for the use of the public under the laws of the States and Territories named in the act ...
S.Rep. No. 755, 82d Cong., 1st Sess., 3 (1951).
Thus, the Desert Land Act of 18775, recognizes the right of the western states6 to legislate the appropriation of the waters within its borders. California Oregon Power Co. v. Beaver Portland C. Co., 295 U.S. 142, 55 S.Ct. 725, 79 L.Ed. 1356 (1935). [124]*124While the basics of the doctrine of prior appropriation is the same from state to state, the doctrine has evolved to meet the specific needs of each state and thus differs among the western states. The Doctrine of Prior Appropriation and the Changing West (Report of the Western States Water Council, 1987). Congress understood this fact and that is why the laws concerning appropriation were left up to each individual state.
It is also clear that Congress envisioned the anarchy that would ensue if the United States were immune from suit in adjudication cases. Congress realized:
It is most clear that where water rights have been adjudicated by a court and its final decree entered, or where such rights are in the course of adjudication by a court, the court adjudicating or having adjudicated such rights is the court possessing the jurisdiction to enter its orders and decrees with respect thereto and thereafter to enforce the same by appropriate proceedings. In the administration of and the adjudication of water rights under State laws the State courts are vested with the jurisdiction necessary for the proper and efficient disposition thereof, and by reason of the interlocking of adjudicated rights on any stream system, any order or action affecting one right affects all such rights. Accordingly all water users on a stream, in practically every case, are interested and necessary parties to any court proceedings. It is apparent that if any water user claiming to hold such right by reason of the ownership thereof by the United States or any of its departments is permitted to claim immunity from suit in, or orders of, a State court, such claims could materially interfere with the lawful and equitable use of water for beneficial use by the other water users who are amenable to and bound by the decrees and orders of the State Courts____ The bill (S. 18) was introduced for the very purpose of correcting this situation and the evils growing out of such immunity. The committee believes that such a situation cannot help but result in a chaotic condition.
S.Rep. No. 755, 82d Cong., 1st Sess. 4-5 (1951). As Congress realized, under the law of prior appropriation, all water users are interrelated. The amount of water one user consumes affects the amount of water available for other water users. If the United States had remained immune, a water adjudication would serve no useful purpose. If the state was unable to include the United States, there would be no way to determine the rights of private users.
CONCLUSION
We hold that the McCarran Amendment waives sovereign immunity and subjects the United States to the laws of Idaho in the Snake River Basin Adjudication including the payment of filing fees. Therefore, we affirm the ruling of the district court denying the petition of the United States.
No costs on appeal.
BAKES, C.J., and BISTLINE, J., concur.